National Tree Week 2016: How did you change views?

National Tree Week is over for another year and what a week it has been! This year, the UK’s biggest annual celebration of trees had the theme of Changing Views to encourage everyone to not only think about how they could change views of the landscape by planting trees, but also to change views about the value of trees in our lives.

Events, ranging from tree planting to tree walks and tree talks – many of which were assisted by grants from The Tree Council – were held up and down the country all week long, organised by our volunteer Tree Wardens, our membership organisations, community groups and schools.
Here’s a snapshot of some of the highlights from National Tree Week 2016:

Winscombe and Sandford Tree Wardens kicked off the week by planting two pear trees and three apple trees at Winscombe Community Orchard in North Somerset, with the help of local scouts and cubs.

Reading Tree Wardens treated members of the public to a fascinating lecture on trees and art on 30th November, while villagers and young people in Leafield, Oxfordshire, marked the week by planting trees on their village green.

Tree Wardens from the Herefordshire Tree Forum were out in force changing views and greening neighbourhoods at various events, including street tree planting in Leominster and a tree walk around Hereford.

Manchester City of Trees held a range of activities across Greater Manchester, culminating with a tree planting party at Snipe Clough in Oldham on Saturday 3rd December, and on the final day of National Tree Week, visitors to Holt Hall Environmental and Outdoor Learning Centre in Norfolk got the chance to take home a baby tree grown from seed.

With National Tree Week encompassing Tree Dressing Day (3rd December), several communities chose to give thanks to trees by decorating local trees. Tottenham Trees ‘dressed’ a cherry tree and a hawthorn with revellers at the Tottenham Winter Festival, while in Northampton’s Salcey Forest, families hung natural handmade decorations from the trees with outdoor education group, Fire and Air.

Meanwhile, social media buzzed with arboreal news, images and facts, with the hashtags #NationalTreeWeek and #ChangingViews used thousands of times. Over ten thousand people reacted to our fabulous National Tree Week 2016 poster and one image we tweeted depicting the ability of trees to clean the air we breathe received an incredible 42,000 impressions.

The Tree Council’s ‘Reasons to be Treeful’ also proved popular; the Twitter campaign attempted to change views about the importance of trees by highlighting a total of 33 benefits that trees provide to people and ecosystems, including their power to cool city streets and absorb harmful carbon dioxide.

Whether they attended an event, were active on social media or provided us with donations to fund tree planting projects, The Tree Council would like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped us change views and make this year’s National Tree Week a tree-mendous success.